Title: Orientation Of Earth, Sun, and Moon Grade Level: 8th Course: General Science Lesson Overview
In this lesson the students will be observing the orbit of the earth about the sun and the orbit of the moon about the earth. It will involve paths of the planet and its moon and the relative sizes between the objects. It will also involve the rotation of the earth and the moon.
Learning Performances
In this lesson I want the students to apply their own problem solving skills and observations of the models being to comprehend that the earth does in fact move around the sun and the moon moves around the earth. With this I eventually want the students to comprehend that the sun is the center of the solar system and that all objects in our solar system move around the sun in some form or another.
Standards or Benchmarks ESS2 (7-8) -8 Students demonstrate an understanding of temporal or positional relationships between or among the Earth, sun, and moon by … 8a using or creating a model of the Earth, sun and moon system to show rotation and revolution.
Materials Needed
- Light
- Large Foam Ball
- Small Foam Ball
- Markers
- Poster Board (Cheap Large Sheet of Paper for them to Draw On)
Time Required
50 minutes
5 min- Intro
15 min- Ask questions to help the students recall prior knowledge and get them thinking and ask them to make some predictions.
10 min- Have them try and draw a picture in groups.
20 min- Demonstration using the balls and the light to show the motion of the earth and the moon. Class discussion on whether or not predictions were correct and giving the students the correct answers to these questions.
Instructional Sequence Introducing the lesson
To start this lesson I will begin by asking them if them simple questions:
Ø Why do we have night and day?
Ø Why does the sun come up in the east and set in the west? Ø Is the Earth moving or the sun? ( OR BOTH?)
Ø Does the moon do the same thing? (?)
Then tell them today we are going to answer all of these questions.
I will tell them that the goal for today is analyze the orbit of the Earth and the Moon and apply them to the idea of night and day and the way the sun and moon move through the sky.
As we go through the questions I will already have them written on an overhead and I will write what the students have to answer them on the overhead.
After we have done all this I will ask them in groups to draw what they think the universe might look like using what we have come up with as a class. I will also pass out the worksheet that they will use to take notes during the class. Worksheet
Instructional Activities Activity 1: To begin the class I would ask the questions above. I would then take the questions and go through them one by one and write the students predictions and observations under each question on the overhead that would already have the questions. They would write these down on their worksheets also in the correct section. It wouldn’t matter if they were correct or not. This would be all the information they would have to do the next part of the lesson. It will also help to recall things they may already know about the universe and I will help to fill some holes that they may not know yet. Lastly this will give me the opportunity to see any misconceptions that the students may have.
Activity 2: Using the information we have come up with as a class I will ask the students to draw how the earth sun and moon are set-up. They will be required to include the Sun, Earth and Moon. They will work in groups of four and have a large piece of paper and markers. This will cause them to take information they have and work through a problem to make a sensible model. I will tell the students that they will be using this drawing as a model in order explain and analyze why we have days and the way the Sun and Moon move in the sky. In there drawing they will need to label the Earth, Moon, and Sun and also show if they move or rotate and in which way.
During this time I will be moving around the room and talking with each group reminding them of the predictions we made and encouraging them to make connections of what they know and if their drawing matches that.
Acitivity 3: After the students have finished their drawings we will have the demonstration to see if our predictions were right. Turn off all lights but the bulb and place it in the middle of the room. Then with just the basketball I would walk around the room and show the students how the Earth moves around the Sun and rotates on its axis at the same time causing day and night and also how the Moon rotates around the Earth using a smaller ball to represent the Moon. In this discussion I could mention things like phases of the moon, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, dark side of the moon and seasons. We will eventually be able to use this model to refer back to and see how all of these phenomena work. Its far too much information for one class but as we do each one I can refer back to this lesson or even set up the demo again to show it.
Concluding the Lesson
To conclude this lesson we will again go through our questions that we answered at the beginning of class. We will see whether or not we proved our predictions to be right or if we found out through observations that it was different then we thought. I will use this time to use a very informal mode of assessment. Going over these questions will give me a good idea if the information got through. It will also tell me if any prior misconceptions are holding strong. At the end of class I will ask the students if they thing that the model was a good size to show us the difference between the earth, sun and moon.
They will then be asked to find out a couple different measures:
Ø Diameter of the Earth, Sun and Moon.(So we can calculate volume which I will do for them.)
Ø Orbit of the Moon around the Earth. (Distance from Earth to Moon)
Ø Orbit of the Earth around the Sun. (Distance from Earth to Sun)
Each group will have to find the answer to one and they can all be found at http://www.nineplanets.org/nineplanets.html#toc . Which I will give to the kids and give them directions where to go on the site and where to look. Since the majority of classes have five groups it works out very well but in the case of more two groups will be assigned the same question and in the case of less than five groups I will take the other questions. So that no one group has to do more work. Keep it fair. These findings will be used in next days lesson. Also for homework they will be asked to fill in the “Was your prediction correct? Why or why not” section of their worksheet that tells me why their prediction was either correct or incorrect.
Assessing Student Understanding To assess the students I will use the informal assessment of going over the questions.
I will collect the worksheet given to the students to see if they answered the questions correctly and also if they gave a good explanation in the “Why?” section of the worksheet. This is another good informal assessment. Over the next few classes we will talk about seasons and go deeper into moon phases. After this I will give them a homework assignment of drawing a picture of what our universe looks like at the point that they are doing the assignment. They will have to include the time of day they started so I can tell if it were night or day and the date. They will also have to observe the moon to see what phase its in. This will be taking all the information they have learned and applying it.
Cautions
Precautions I need to think of while doing this lesson would include:
1. Making sure all students remain seated while the lights are off so they don’t get hurt and also that the floors are clear so I don’t trip.
2. Make sure the cord for the light is unplugged and out of the way while not in use.
3. Make sure that no students touch the light while its hot.
Sources
Some ideas from David Baxter of Oliver Hazard Perry Middle School and some from Jay Fogleman.
Rationale
This lesson is important because it will start a base for so many different ideas that will come later in this unit. As stated in activity three I will be able to refer back to this demonstration as we go through all those phenomena. It is also important because it makes the students make predictions and then prove or falsify those predictions by simple observations and analysis of demonstration.
Grade Level: 8th
Course: General Science
Lesson Overview
In this lesson the students will be observing the orbit of the earth about the sun and the orbit of the moon about the earth. It will involve paths of the planet and its moon and the relative sizes between the objects. It will also involve the rotation of the earth and the moon.
Learning Performances
In this lesson I want the students to apply their own problem solving skills and observations of the models being to comprehend that the earth does in fact move around the sun and the moon moves around the earth. With this I eventually want the students to comprehend that the sun is the center of the solar system and that all objects in our solar system move around the sun in some form or another.
Standards or Benchmarks
ESS2 (7-8) -8
Students demonstrate an understanding of temporal or positional relationships between or among the Earth, sun, and moon by …
8a using or creating a model of the Earth, sun and moon system to show rotation and revolution.
The Meaning of this Standard
Materials Needed
- Light
- Large Foam Ball
- Small Foam Ball
- Markers
- Poster Board (Cheap Large Sheet of Paper for them to Draw On)
Time Required
50 minutes
5 min- Intro
15 min- Ask questions to help the students recall prior knowledge and get them thinking and ask them to make some predictions.
10 min- Have them try and draw a picture in groups.
20 min- Demonstration using the balls and the light to show the motion of the earth and the moon. Class discussion on whether or not predictions were correct and giving the students the correct answers to these questions.
Instructional Sequence
Introducing the lesson
To start this lesson I will begin by asking them if them simple questions:
Ø Why do we have night and day?
Ø Why does the sun come up in the east and set in the west?
Ø Is the Earth moving or the sun? ( OR BOTH?)
Ø Does the moon do the same thing? (?)
Then tell them today we are going to answer all of these questions.
I will tell them that the goal for today is analyze the orbit of the Earth and the Moon and apply them to the idea of night and day and the way the sun and moon move through the sky.
As we go through the questions I will already have them written on an overhead and I will write what the students have to answer them on the overhead.
After we have done all this I will ask them in groups to draw what they think the universe might look like using what we have come up with as a class. I will also pass out the worksheet that they will use to take notes during the class. Worksheet
Instructional Activities
Activity 1: To begin the class I would ask the questions above. I would then take the questions and go through them one by one and write the students predictions and observations under each question on the overhead that would already have the questions. They would write these down on their worksheets also in the correct section. It wouldn’t matter if they were correct or not. This would be all the information they would have to do the next part of the lesson. It will also help to recall things they may already know about the universe and I will help to fill some holes that they may not know yet. Lastly this will give me the opportunity to see any misconceptions that the students may have.
Activity 2: Using the information we have come up with as a class I will ask the students to draw how the earth sun and moon are set-up. They will be required to include the Sun, Earth and Moon. They will work in groups of four and have a large piece of paper and markers. This will cause them to take information they have and work through a problem to make a sensible model. I will tell the students that they will be using this drawing as a model in order explain and analyze why we have days and the way the Sun and Moon move in the sky. In there drawing they will need to label the Earth, Moon, and Sun and also show if they move or rotate and in which way.
During this time I will be moving around the room and talking with each group reminding them of the predictions we made and encouraging them to make connections of what they know and if their drawing matches that.
Acitivity 3: After the students have finished their drawings we will have the demonstration to see if our predictions were right. Turn off all lights but the bulb and place it in the middle of the room. Then with just the basketball I would walk around the room and show the students how the Earth moves around the Sun and rotates on its axis at the same time causing day and night and also how the Moon rotates around the Earth using a smaller ball to represent the Moon. In this discussion I could mention things like phases of the moon, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, dark side of the moon and seasons. We will eventually be able to use this model to refer back to and see how all of these phenomena work. Its far too much information for one class but as we do each one I can refer back to this lesson or even set up the demo again to show it.
Concluding the Lesson
To conclude this lesson we will again go through our questions that we answered at the beginning of class. We will see whether or not we proved our predictions to be right or if we found out through observations that it was different then we thought. I will use this time to use a very informal mode of assessment. Going over these questions will give me a good idea if the information got through. It will also tell me if any prior misconceptions are holding strong. At the end of class I will ask the students if they thing that the model was a good size to show us the difference between the earth, sun and moon.
They will then be asked to find out a couple different measures:
Ø Diameter of the Earth, Sun and Moon.(So we can calculate volume which I will do for them.)
Ø Orbit of the Moon around the Earth. (Distance from Earth to Moon)
Ø Orbit of the Earth around the Sun. (Distance from Earth to Sun)
Each group will have to find the answer to one and they can all be found at http://www.nineplanets.org/nineplanets.html#toc . Which I will give to the kids and give them directions where to go on the site and where to look. Since the majority of classes have five groups it works out very well but in the case of more two groups will be assigned the same question and in the case of less than five groups I will take the other questions. So that no one group has to do more work. Keep it fair. These findings will be used in next days lesson. Also for homework they will be asked to fill in the “Was your prediction correct? Why or why not” section of their worksheet that tells me why their prediction was either correct or incorrect.
Assessing Student Understanding
To assess the students I will use the informal assessment of going over the questions.
I will collect the worksheet given to the students to see if they answered the questions correctly and also if they gave a good explanation in the “Why?” section of the worksheet. This is another good informal assessment. Over the next few classes we will talk about seasons and go deeper into moon phases. After this I will give them a homework assignment of drawing a picture of what our universe looks like at the point that they are doing the assignment. They will have to include the time of day they started so I can tell if it were night or day and the date. They will also have to observe the moon to see what phase its in. This will be taking all the information they have learned and applying it.
Cautions
Precautions I need to think of while doing this lesson would include:
1. Making sure all students remain seated while the lights are off so they don’t get hurt and also that the floors are clear so I don’t trip.
2. Make sure the cord for the light is unplugged and out of the way while not in use.
3. Make sure that no students touch the light while its hot.
Sources
Some ideas from David Baxter of Oliver Hazard Perry Middle School and some from Jay Fogleman.
Teaching Resources
http://www.nineplanets.org/nineplanets.html#toc
Rationale
This lesson is important because it will start a base for so many different ideas that will come later in this unit. As stated in activity three I will be able to refer back to this demonstration as we go through all those phenomena. It is also important because it makes the students make predictions and then prove or falsify those predictions by simple observations and analysis of demonstration.